LETTER: One job at a time

Thursday

Sep 20, 2012 at 12:01 AMSep 20, 2012 at 9:18 AM

Your Sept. 18 editorial on Okaloosa County Commissioner James Campbell (“Another Okaloosa shocker”) reinforces a long-held opinion of mine. I have long advocated that county commissioners work only at the job to which they have been elected. At $66,900 per year, county commissioners’ salaries are high enough that the commissioners should be working full-time in that capacity, and not just consider it a second job. I know many highly qualified people who would be most eager to draw that much salary as their only income. In Campbell’s case, he has held a high-paying position for the city of Niceville while serving as a county commissioner. Now we learn that he also was recruiting sponsors for the Boggy Bayou Mullet Festival as a third job. It makes me wonder just how thin a public official can spread himself and still do the job he was hired to do. It is unlikely the county commissioners will change their own rules of employment. But the voters could still be the deciding factor if they are given the choice between electing a full-time official or a part-timer at the same high salary.